Found 23 talks width keyword massive stars

Abstract

The determination of chemical composition and distances of galaxies is crucial for constraining the theory of galaxy formation and evolution in a dark energy and cold dark matter dominated universe. However, the standard technique using HII regions to determine the metallicity of star forming galaxies, nearby and at high redshift, is subject to large systematic uncertainties that are poorly understood and the determinination of accurate distances using Cepheids suffers from uncertainties caused by the metallicity dependence of the period luminosity relationship and extinction and crowding corrections. Multi-object spectroscopy of blue and red supergiant stars - the brightest stars in the universe at visual and NIR wavelengths - provides an attractive alternative. I will present results accumulated over recent years for galaxies in the Local Group and beyond out to a distance of 8 Mpc and will discuss the potential of future work with TMT and E-ELT. Combining the photon collecting power of these next generation telescopes with Adaptive Optics we will be able to study individual supergiant stars in galaxies as distant as the Coma cluster. With spectroscopy of the integrated light of young very massive Star Super Clusters and simple population synthesis techniques we can reach out ten times further.

Abstract

The fate of ionizing radiation from massive stars has fundamental consequences on scales ranging from the physics of circumstellar disks to the ionization state of the entire universe. On galactic scales, the radiative feedback from massive stars is a major driver for the energetics and phase balance of the interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies. While even starburst galaxies appear to be largely optically thick in the Lyman continuum, ionization-parameter mapping shows that significant populations of HII regions within galaxies are optically thin, powering the diffuse, warm ionized medium. I will discuss our multi-faceted work to clarify our understanding of radiative feedback in star-forming galaxies from the Magellanic Clouds to starbursts.

Abstract

I am going to present the new massive and obscured cluster Masgomas-1. This cluster, discovered by our group formed by astronomers from the IAC and CEFCA, is thefirst candidate derived from the preliminary version of our systematic search algorithm for obscured (and young) massive clusters, and part of the MASGOMAS project (MAssive Stars in Galactic Obscured MAssive clusterS). In this talk I will present the spectrophotometric observations obtained with LIRIS at William Herschel Telescope (ORM), which allowed the physical characterization of the massive stellar population of Masgomas-1, and the confirmation of the cluster's massive nature(i.e. Mcl > 10^4 Msun).

Abstract

Although they are rare and short-lived, massive stars play a major role in Universe. With their large luminosities, strong stellar winds and spectacular explosions they act as cosmic engines, heating and enriching their surroundings, where the next generation of stars are forming.

The latest stellar evolutionary models show that rotation can have drastic effects, which has been suggested as a evolutionary path for the progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts. I will discuss the recent efforts of theorists and observers to understand the effects of rotation including some highlights of the ongoing "VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey of Massive Stars". A further challenge arises from the preference of massive stars to come in close pairs. Interaction with a companion leads to spectacular phenomena such as runaways, X-ray binaries and stellar mergers. I will present new results on the true close binary fraction for massive stars, which imply that only a minority evolve undisturbed towards their death.

Abstract

Massive stars lose mass through powerful, radiatively driven stellar winds. Building on the original "CAK" model for steady, spherical winds driven by line-scattering, this talk will review recent research on the multi-faceted nature of such wind mass loss under varied conditions, for example due to rapid rotation, magnetic channeling, binary interaction, or a luminosity near the Eddington limit. An overall theme is that wind mass loss can in this way lead to a wide variety of astrophysical phenomena, including bipolar nebulae, massive star magnetospheres, colliding winds or compact companion accretion, and luminous blue variable eruption. The discussion here will summarize these with an emphasis on their varied observational signatures.

Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA

Abstract

In this talk I consider two questions. First, I investigate the formation of molecular clouds from diffuse interstellar gas. It has been argued that the midplane pressure controls the fraction of molecular hydrogen present, and thus the star formation rate. Alternatively, I and others have suggested that the gravitational instability of the disk controls both. I present numerical results demonstrating that the observed correlations between midplane pressure, molecular hydrogen fraction, and star formation rate can be explained within the gravitational instability picture. Second, I discuss how ionization affects the formation of massive stars. Although most distinctive observables of massive stars can be traced back to their ionizing radiation, it does not appear to have a strong effect on their actual formation. Rather, I present simulations suggesting that stars only ionize large volumes after their accretion has already been throttled by gravitational fragmentation in the accretion flow. At the same time these models can explain many aspects of the observations of ultracompact H II regions.

Abstract

Massive stars dominate the light output of entire galaxies, with luminosities in excess of 105 L⊙. This makes them powerful probes with which to study a range of astrophysical phenomena. In this talk I will review the recent results of our group, in which we have been able to shed new light on the recent star-forming history of our Galaxy, and the nature of supernova progenitors. I will also discuss our latest project, which is to use massive stars as tracers of extra-galactic star-forming histories out to distances of 10 Mpc and beyond.

Abstract

The formation of massive stars is not fully understood. The high luminosity and temperature of massive protostars complicate the accretion mechanism at work in intermediate and low mass young stellar objects. Nonetheless, several scenarios exist to explain the formation of massive stars. In this talk, we will focus on the process of triggered star formation on the borders of H II regions. Due to the feedback effects of OB stars, a layer of molecular material is collected during the expansion of the H II region. Instabilities develop in this layer and give birth to new stars. We will present a detailed study of three Galactic H II regions (RCW79, RCW82 and RCW120). Near-infrared integral field observations have been carried out with SINFONI on the VLT. We will see how they reveal the nature of both the ionizing stars and of the YSOs in the collected layer and how they support the scenario of 'triggered star formation'.

Abstract

Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars are a principal source of gas and dust input into the interstellar medium, being an important driver of chemical evolution in galaxies. Rubidium is a key element to distinguish between high mass (~4-8 M⊙) AGB stars and low mass (~1-4 M⊙) AGBs - high mass AGBs are predicted to produce a lot of rubidium as a consequence of the genuine nucleosynthetic processes (the s-process) that characterise these stars. The Magellanic Clouds (MCs) offer a unique opportunity to study the stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis of AGB stars in low metallicity environments where distances (and so the star's luminosity) are known. We present the discovery of extragalactic rubidium-rich AGB stars in the MCs confirming that the more massive AGB stars are generally brighter than the standard adopted luminosity limit (Mbol~-7.1) for AGB's. In addition, massive MC-AGBs are more enriched in Rb than their galactic counterparts, as it is qualitatively predicted by the present theoretical models; the Rb over-abundance increase with increasing stellar mass and with decreasing metallicity. However, present theoretical models are far from matching the extremely high Rb overabundances observed.

Abstract

The last decade has brought the discovery of a large number of massive (M > 10000 M?) young open clusters in the Milky Way, which had previously not been thought to exist. I will present a brief review of these discoveries, with strong emphasis on the use of these clusters as astrophysical laboratories. I will also present the very recent discovery of a number of massive clusters concentrated towards a small region of the Scutum Arm, providing evidence for the existence of starburst activity on a much larger scale than previously assumed.